An 8-year-old boy has died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision in western Massachusetts.
Police Lt. Lawrence Valliere says the boy lost control of the weapon while firing it Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club. Police say the force of the weapon made it “travel up and back” to the boy’s head.
The victim was taken to Baystate Medical Center where he died.
His name was not immediately released.
Update – The Associated Press as added some details to this tragic story:
With an instructor watching, an 8-year-old boy at a gun fair aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera.
It was his first time shooting a fully automatic machine gun, and the recoil of the weapon was too much for him. He lost control and fatally shooting himself in the head.
Now gun safety experts — and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the shooting happened — are wondering why such a young child was allowed to fire a weapon used in war.
I’m a second amendment guy, but this child had no business firing a machine gun. I weep for his parent’s loss, but the police should investigate them because they are truly at fault here.
The US gun laws are crazy – and only the Americans disagree. Sad.
#31 “if you want to repeal the 2nd amendment, then repeal it,”
Exactly, call a Constitutional convention and redo the whole Constitution. Be done with it.
#33 Tod said, “The US gun laws are crazy – and only the Americans disagree. Sad.”
No one forces you to come to the US. Stay wherever you without 1st or 2nd Amendment protection.
if you want to repeal the 2nd amendment, then repeal it, otherwise, you’re just chipping away at the validity of the whole constitution.
I am with Grog on that one, but then I am not American so thats only an outsiders opinion.
I do think that any democracy should have a Swiss-style militia, that every able man (and these probably most of the women as well these days) should be trained, organised into neighbourhood militias and armed (either at home like the swiss do or in local depots). This would certainly make any emergency response (to any emergency) a lot easier because the line-of-command is already established and people are trained to know what to do, as well being a great asset to national security. With out that sort of local militia, our Freedom is always at the grace of whoever is in charge of the army and secret service (and that increasingly that grace seems to wearing thin)….
#33 If you knew our history and why we have it. Than you might understand. You can thank the British for it.
This is sad.
Once again…..The problem is not the gun. The problem is those who are allowed to own them.
Many people who own guns are responsible with them. It is the minority, usually those out screaming that the have the right to own them, that cause such tragedy and continue to not understand the purpose of the 2nd amendment.
People like Paddy Cake the Ignorant Shit Talker confuse the 2nd amendment with carless behavior and rightwing talking points. The right wing has done no benefit for the 2nd amendment or any other part of the constitution. They have attacked groups like the ACLU that defend it.
Paddy Cake? What do you really stand for? Why do you hate America so much?
#38 J lied again, “They have attacked groups like the ACLU that defend it. ”
When was the last time the ACLU filed suit for the gov’t violating a person’s 2nd Amendment?
#39 Paddy Cake the Ignorant Shit Talker
The more you post the more you prove my point. It is YOUR ignorant view of the 2nd amendment that they do not defend. It is the proper view of the 2nd amendment that they protect.
It is people like you that make responsible gun owners embarrassed. You run around acting like a douchknozzle and people interpret your behavior for what the responsible gun owners thinks. IT ISN”T!!
Any more questions dumbfuck?
#40 ROFL!
#29, Cow-Paddy Shit Talker,
The unfortunate thing is while your ability to read might reach elementary levels, you apparently have a difficult time comprehending a compound sentence. Read the whole sentence, not just the part YOU like.
I guess you approve of the Supreme Court in Plessy v Ferguson, Scott v Sanford, US v Miller, Adams v Williams, or, Hamdi v Rumsfeld.
BTW, care to guess which of those cases expressly suggest your Uzi would be illegal?
#11 ChuckM;
“Pellet / Air is the way I learned to shoot and gives you a level of safety and some time to respect a weapon.”
The voice of Reason!
Exactly right!
It makes as much sense to give an 8 year old an Uzi and have him fire it as it is to give an 8 year old a Buick and tell him to drive it on the freeway.
Mr. Fusion
“Uzi, a small automatic firearm used to kill people with. Only sport is shooting Palestinians, which doesn’t count as an Olympic sport.”
Or maybe it should, since Palestinians promoted in Munich the killing Israeli Olympic athletes is good sport.
Oops,
“THAT killing Israeli Olympic athletes is good sport.”
#42
I’m more of a Dred Scott v. Sandford guy.
#42, I don’t think the Uzi is illegal. It’s just illegal to have one without the proper documentation and paying the forbidding taxes for the license to own it. This is how the government gets around the 2nd Amendment — just tax the shit out of it.
And I believe the Supreme Court just verified that the 2A does indeed mean that individuals can have weapons — re:Washington DC.
# 45 Paddy Cake the Ignorant Shit Talker
Well we now have an admission that you are a racist.
#43, Ah Yea,
Or maybe it should, …
While I have great respect for your intelligence and debating skills, this comment is not one of your best.
Munich was a tragic event. Even more tragic is the murder of Palestinians by the Israeli Army under the guise of “security”. The only difference is that the murdered Israeli athletes are recognized as victims while the murdered Palestinians are reviled as worthless scum, regardless of how young, old, or removed from any actual violence.
#47 JJ said,
“Well we now have an admission that you are a racist.”
Yes, I favor the human race. Is there any other?
# 49 Paddy Cake the Ignorant Shit Talker
No you clearly stated.
“I’m more of a Dred Scott v. Sandford guy.” -PCIST
A case that decide that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants whether or not they were slaves—could never be citizens of the United States.
That looks more like you don’t think people of African descent are not and can not be citizens of the U.S.
#50. At the time they should have compensated and given their own country devoid of the oppressors (Anglos) that committed the crime of slavery.
see Jefferson.
# 51 Paddy the Ignorant Shit Talker
LOL
You can wiggle all you want you said you said
“I’m more of a Dred Scott v. Sandford guy.”- PCIST
Shoulda coulda woulda! That decision is racist and you say that you tend to agree with it’s decision.
#52 Read up and study. Gt back to me when done.
It’s nothing more or less than a tragic accidental death. Could have been a car, a boat, an electrical outlet. The question here is: Did this gun cause this? No more than an electrical outlet electrocutes people, a swimming pool drowns people, or a car kills people. It is a matter of acceptable risk. If people wish to have swimming pools, they have to accept that kids will drown. If they want to drive cars, they accept that kids will die in them. If they want to be able to protect themselves from criminals, then, again, sometimes, rarely, some kid will get killed. The national statistics of “children” killed by guns includes, incredibly, the 14 to 17 year old black drug dealers who keep erasing themselves in urban areas, muchs to the gratitude of the rest of the population. This kid could have killed himself with a slingshot. So what? I own guns, and to celebrate BO’s wonderful campaign, I am in the process of building an evil black AR 15. Acceptable risk? Fine with me. I drive my car, too. And go swimming.
# 53 Paddy the Ignorant Shit Talker
Perhaps you should have looked it up before you posted that statement. I don’t need to read about it because I went to school and studied history. Something you seem to have not done.
That facts are the facts. You said “I’m more of a Dred Scott v. Sandford guy.”- PCIST
In my opinion and any rational persons opinion that would make you a person that supports slavery and looks at those of African descent as property. That makes you a racist.
#54 I’m sorry but, Omama & friends know what’s good for you. You don’t as you aren’t as “enlightened” as they. I’m sure a stint in the soon to be built reeducation camps will change your viewpoint. 😉
# 56 Paddy Cake the Ignorant Shit Talker
I bet you can’t stand the thought of a black man being in charge of this country can you?
You pathetic racist!!!
#48 Mr. Fusion .
You’re right. My apologies. Creating suffering is not sport and it was wrong of me to imply such even in jest.
Not in the way of trying to excuse myself, but just to view my opinion on the Palestinian conflict.
I see Israel as doing as much as it can to meet the Palestinians halfway whereas the PLO / Arafat believers / Hamas / Hezbollah crowd want nothing more than to eliminate Israel.
Although I have sympathy for the regular Palestinian guy on the street who just want to put food on the table, the fact is the regular Palestinian guy is cannon fodder for other Arab states that use them for political reasons.
The roadmap to peace is both workable and reasonable. It also won’t happen because it seems the Palestinians as a whole are sheeple cannot think past the hype expoused by their religious “leaders”.
If they got with the program, whey would have land, peace, and prosperity.
The Israelis are ready, why not the Palestinians?
Remember, in WWI the Arabs fought against the British Empire and lost. The result was the partitioning of the old Ottoman empire into the Middle East States as they are now.
Then again, many of these states warred against the British Empire again in WWII and also lost, wherein the realignment of the states and the creation of Israel resulted.
The Palestinians lost their homeland because they fought and lost. Not once, but twice.
http://tinyurl.com/296azb
To add insult to injury, the Palestinians then tried to overthrow Jordan and lost again.
“On July 20, 1951, Abdullah, while visiting Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, was shot dead by Mustapha Shukri Usho, “a Palestinian from the Husseini clan.”” … “Abdullah was shot while attending Friday prayers at the Dome of the Rock in the company of his grandson, Prince Hussein.[10] The Palestinian gunman, motivated by fears that the old king would make a separate peace with Israel, fired three fatal bullets into the King’s head and chest. Abdullah’s grandson, Prince Hussein, was at his side and was hit too. A medal that had been pinned to Hussein’s chest at his grandfather’s insistence deflected the bullet and saved his life.”
http://tinyurl.com/5nsr5l
Examining the above article further, you will see that the assassin worked as part of an elaborate plot the Palestinians prepared to take over Jordan.
The Palestinians are in the situation the currently endure not because of some outward injustice but as a direct consequence of what they have done.
PaddyCake – You keep citing what will be if Obama is elected and completely disregard what has been under the current administration. Reality is what truly has been and fantasy is prophecy or what may be. I believe in reality and can only have hope for the future. You my friend are delusional in holding on to the status quo and blindly following your party’s line.
#59 What have I ignored?
But, I can only go off what Obama says. What else am I supposed to go off of?
PaddyHo – So it’s “Better the devil I know”?